Thoughts about the A-League and its adventures in the quest for sustainability.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Brisbane 3 v Gold Coast 0 - Miron may be the first to beat Brisbane, but in what year?

At first the crowd looked disappointing. But that seems to be the problem with people turning up at game time to buy a ticket. By the time Eric had headed the ball into the back of the net there was a good covering of people across the ground, and they were in full song.

The first 14 minutes were even, then after the goal the ball raced from end to end. Maceo Ritgers showed some real class early, turning and shooting, getting past his man. And suddenly it was all Gold Coast - pushing high and Brisbane unable to get out from the back - Theo was under pressure, closed down and pressurised by Ritgers - where was this going?

The Coast's left winger Ben Halloran was playing a blinder, but more amazing was the speed from Stefanutto - where did that come from? He and Matt Smith saved the Roar time and again. While overall Mitch Nichols was the best player on the park, Steff was brilliant , the best I have seen from him. Brisbane started to show a roughness we haven't seen from Ange's team.

Towards the 40 minute mark the game turned again. Paul Beekmans, Gold Coast's new Dutch import was found out. And overall, far from being youthful, the team seems overweight and slow. The 30 minute pressing of the Roar left Gold Coast without energy and gasping, too old, too slow.

Apart from the the occasional early threat, the second half was all Brisbane. At the time it got to 3, 6 seemed possible. But Roar slowed and held possession, protecting players and preparing for the great challenge ahead next week in Adelaide.

By the way, it should have been 4, the ref missed a clear hand ball penalty in extra time.

4 comments:

Re the crowd - I heard that there was a problem with buses. Don't think it was huge ticket queues as they had sold over 12700 pre-game.

I thought Nichols had a quiet start but Beekmans couldn't go with him for more than 30 mins. Murdocca's touch has imporved and he (at last) has the confidence to play forward rather than back.

Berisha>Solorzano - just as good a finisher but works far harder off the ball. I agree - Steff was excellent - his touch has also improved this year.

For me the jury is still out on Danning. Played an excellent ball across the 6 yard box, but often looked like he didn't know where to move to, and technique is not that great. I prefer Meyer at this stage.

Mitch made a few mistakes, losing possession, in the first half, as did Issey. I think Ange was poker-faced serious when he said the Roar didn't have their best game.

Good on Gold Coast for bringing it! They are the one team (so far) who are doing what needs to be done, trying to beat the Roar at their own game. They have a long way to go clearly, and yes, they tired out.

Adnan was a footnote as he came in five minutes from the end, but he looked really interesting. He can clearly out-head anyone on the park without effort. 0 out of 1 leaves the jury out on whether he also has accuracy.

Adnan is one of the Bahraini nationals who was arrested in Bahrain for pro-democracy protests a little while ago. He also missed the penalty which meant that Bahrain missed the World Cup, so, like Broich perhaps, he has things to run away from. Meanwhile he was Asia player of the year 2009.